Best Banana Bread + Madeira Glaze

Oh my god you guys we tried to make a video of us making this banana bread and it was probably the funniest / most unorganized thing we've ever done for the blog. Needless to say, I don't think ya girls are ready to start doing videos just yet (lololol), but hey maybe one day soon you'll be watching us make things instead of just reading about them and looking at the photos! And you can hear how gay my voice is! Sweet!

How's this week been for you guys? Other than trying to make a video and test the recipe for this bread, I've had a mega lazy weekend. Like, sleep in until 11 kind of lazy because it rained every morning and the sound of the morning rain pittering and pattering on the window sill is about my favorite thing in the world to just sit and listen to while I drift in and out of consciousness for a few hours. But the extra sleep was fine because it gave me the energy to test the heck out of this banana bread recipe, and y'all, it is so. damn. good. I've got a few tricks up my (long, suede) sleeve to make your banana bread the queen of all banana breads *flips hair, applies too much lipstick*. Y'all ready?

1.) Bake your 'nanas. Yes! Take your already over-ripened bananas and line them on a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake at 325 degrees for about twenty minutes until they are completely black. This gives them a super intense and sweet banana flavor that makes the bread so freaking good. Do it!

2.) Full fat yogurt. Yes, girl. The fats and proteins in full fat yogurt keep this bread moist and stable. It's a must do!

3.) Vegetable oil over butter. I hate myself for this cause I'm a huge advocate of butter and using *relatively* whole ingredients when possible, but if you want the best banana bread, vegetable oil wins over butter as it helps create a consistent, tender texture with the perfect crumb. If you wanna use melted butter instead though you can go ahead, it just maybe won't be the best.

And on one last note, if you gurls aren't familiar with madeira, it's a fortified wine just like port and sherry. It's typically meant for sipping on after a meal and has this truly beautiful and deep caramel flavor that makes this banana bread in-fucking-sane, giving it almost a similar caramel/brown sugar/slight alcohol sting that you enjoy in bananas foster or in rum cake. Alrighty, I'll let you get to it, recipe below lovelies! Oh also if you have an opinion on whether or not we should make videos and what some fun topics could be, let us know, we're all ears!

Best Banana Bread with Madeira Glaze

prep time 30 minutes // cook time 1 hour // serves 6 - 8

Best Banana Bread

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 cup full fat yogurt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large, very ripe bananas, not peeled!

1 small banana cut in half lengthwise for garnish, optional (you'll probably only use one of the halves, the other can be for snacking!)

Madeira Glaze

1/4 cup madeira

1/4 cup granulated sugar

To make the glaze, combine both ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar is dissolved, immediately remove from the heat and set aside. Brush or drizzle over finished banana bread while the bread is still warm. Poking a few holes with chopsticks or a toothpick in the surface of the banana bread will help with the absorption!

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the bananas, in their peels, on the baking sheet a few inches apart from one another. Bake for twenty to twenty five minutes until they are completely black. Remove from the oven and let cool until easy to handle. Peel and use as instructed below. Raise the oven temperature to 350 degrees and line a loaf pan with parchment paper.*

While the bananas are cooling down, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside. In a separate, smaller mixing bowl, mash two of the baked bananas with a wire whisk and add the yogurt, oil, both sugars, vanilla, and egg. Add the egg last so as to allow the bananas to cool down from the addition of the other ingredients before the two come into contact (scrambled eggs ain't cute in banana bread). Whisk until it's all relatively smooth, though if there are a few chunks from the bananas its totally chill.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk just to combine. Roughly chop the remaining two bananas and use a rubber spatula to fold them into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and gently place half of the small banana on top (as pictured). Bake for one hour, until a toothpick comes out of the center without any wet batter on it, though a few crumbs is normal. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before brushing or drizzling with the glaze (more detailed instructions for the glaze can be found above). Enjoy!